We've heard of the U.S. government outsourcing parts of its ground operations in Iraq to private contractors who operate as complementary forces to the military. This school year, the University of Southern California will try the same approach—on a much smaller scale, of course.
The massive private college in Los Angeles has hired Contemporary Services Corp. to help protect students in areas near the campus, the Daily Trojan reports. There will be 22 security officers stationed at fixed locations around the school, and they'll be wearing the same yellow jackets security wears at sporting events.
The reasoning behind hiring the service is simple: USC can't afford to hire and train 22 new campus police officers, so the contracted security "ambassadors"—as they're being called—will stand guard and observe and report anything suspicious in their area.
Students seem to be on board with the idea.
"I like it because, if they're stationary, then I'll know if I have to run somewhere, that's where I'm running," says one student.
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Jacob of CA 1:04PM August 26, 2009